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The information assembled here is for any campaign in any party. It was designed to give you simple, actionable information that will make your campaign’s information more secure from adversaries trying to attack your organization—and our democracy

This report recommends policies and actions to improve the return on investment the U.S. government makes in sponsoring research and development (R&D) at the Department of Energy's (DOE) seventeen National Laboratories ("Labs"). While the Labs make a unique and significant contribution to all of the Department of Energy's missions, the authors develop the idea that for the Labs to fully support DOE's energy transformation goals, their R&D management practices need to be updated to better reflect current research into innovation systems and management. They also highlight the necessity of Lab interactions with industry in order to impact the nation's energy infrastructure investment, which is, for the most part, privately held.

Xi is now not only the most powerful leader of China since Mao. He is also the most ambitious leader of any country today. In the past five years, he has proved himself the most effective in advancing his nation’s position in the world. And among all of the competitors on the international stage, he is the most likely to leave a lasting mark on history.

Managing the Microbe

Mission Statement

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Managing the Microbe project under the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is the focal group within Harvard University for global biosecurity.

Our vision is a world that sees strengthened global security and resilience by reductions in dangers posed by regional epidemics or global pandemics of natural or manmade infectious organisms.

Our mission is to generate scholarship and train leaders at large on the impact and consequences of such infectious disease outbreaks in terms of security and sovereignty, economics and trade, public health and social welfare, and government and ethics.

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is known as ground zero for the serious study and impactful development of policies to safeguard us from the threat of weapons of mass destruction. From Nunn-Lugar to the Nuclear Security Summits, the Center’s faculty, fellows, and practitioners have helped conceive and codify the strategies and policies that have substantially reduced the risks of nu­clear danger in the post-Cold War era.

Today, consistent with its purpose to build a more secure, peaceful world, the Center is establishing a new project to confront the growing threat from biological weapons and natural disease outbreaks. These interrelated threats are increasing in global reach and devastation, exploiting a vac­uum of biosecurity leadership in the science and technology, global health, and academic and think tank communities. Our nascent Managing the Microbe Project aspires to fill this critical need.

The Managing the Microbe Project is committed to ad­dressing these vulnerabilities:

Lethal fast lane: Terrorist groups who seek to kill the most people in the most spectacular fashion—with the least cost and fewest security barriers—are likely to pursue an ancient tool of warfare that’s become notably more accessible in recent years: biological weapons.

Bioterrorism tipping point: The recently accelerating drop in costs and wider distribution of the same game-changing gene editing and related technologies that are opening up per­sonalized medicine now portend the development of an on-demand marketplace for commissioning the world’s most deadly pathogens.

Jurassic Park problem: New technology allows scientists to recreate from scratch difficult-to-access pathogens—including smallpox, which has been eradicated from nature although its genetic sequence is available online—to be used as weapons.

Nuclear-scale fatality rates: Both evolving natural pandemics and weaponized patho­gens can devastate populations across entire continents. One gram of anthrax can kill millions if perfectly distributed.

Impossible to control: Large-scale bioterrorism can now be plausibly launched by a so-called lone wolf, and with little to no detection. The knowledge required to carry out a deliberate biological attack is globally available and comparatively undemanding to access.

Weak safeguards: Conspicuous vulnerabilities exist even in the most ad­vanced nations. Between 2014 and 2015, for example, U.S. defense and civilian agencies were found to have inappro­priately stored, ineffectively deactivated, and otherwise mishandled both anthrax and the smallpox variola virus.

We will focus on five key lines of effort:

Foster cross-sectoral integration among governments, the private sector, and international and non-governmental organizations;

Promote a global goal of consolidating and securing dan­gerous pathogens to reduce biological terrorism and other risks;

Break down barriers that are impeding adoption of technologies and medical advances central to improving biosecurity;

Advocate for updating norms to keep pace with rapid scientific and technical advancements; and

Lead the development of a robust non-governmental track of activities in support of the Global Health Security Agenda.

Staff

Researchers

To launch Managing the Microbe, we have initiated a cam­paign to raise at least $5 million for our initial five-year period. These funds will help us:

Create a faculty group across Harvard schools with expertise in medi­cine, law, business, government, biological sciences, and public health.

Recruit annual Fellows whose work will advance public education and policy setting by national governments and international governing bodies (e.g. World Health Organization Pandemic Preparedness 2015).

Enlist an advisory panel to provide vision, guide the agendas of the core faculty group and Fellows, and develop opportunities.